This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Balancing Quality and "Realism"

Some podcasts are the result of a great deal of time and effort spent in
post-production. Others are clearly the result of someone hitting the
"Record" button on their software, talking for some amount of time,
hitting the "Stop" button, then posting the raw file on the Web.

Podcasters in the first category want to provide a flawless program with
high-quality production values. WGBH Morning Stories is an example of
this type of podcast. Listening to that particular podcast, it’s
reasonable to estimate that post-production takes four or five times as much
time as the actual recording. The final product is pristine.

Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code, on the other hand, is usually
recorded in real-time and includes every hiccup and misstep he makes during the
process. He’ll experiment with new equipment and his listeners will hear
the results—good, bad, or disastrous.

Which approach is correct? Well, both of those shows are among the most
popular around so it’s clear that there’s an audience for either
approach. What’s important is that, once you’ve settled on a general
approach, you remain relatively consistent. If you’ve opted to emphasize
production values then your audience may find even a small glitch to be
distracting. On the other hand, if your audience thinks it’s getting a
raw, unedited show and then hears an edit, you’ll have a the beginnings of
a credibility problem.